By Joe Boulé
A future light rail system is still far from a sure thing, despite numerous published news reports.
Regional council voted on Sept. 9 to initiate the second phase of the pilot project. Successful negotiations with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and approval from the Ministry of Environment are now the main concerns if the region wants to have commuter rail in place for the year 2000.
“The difficulty (with CP Rail negotiations) is that we will not have completed the environmental assessment by then,” says Nick Tunnacliffe, a member of the light rail steering committee.
The assessment is required by the province to determine the impact of light rail along the existing CP Rail route from South Keys to Centretown. Tunnacliffe says there is no way the study will be completed in time for orders to be placed (through CP Rail) for the construction of rail cars.
“There’s an 18-month lead-time on building the rail cars,” he says. “So we have to order them by December of this year (if they’re going to be ready for 2000).”
If the Ministry of Environment doesn’t approve the environmental assessment, the region could be stuck with six cars and no track to put them on.
“We hope there will be a cancellation clause (with CP Rail) so if this thing goes belly-up for some reason, we’ll be able to get out of it,” says Tunnacliffe.
Greg Percy, manager of passenger and commuter services for CP Rail says a termination clause will be worked out, but specifics haven’t been discussed.
“It will be a key part of the negotiations, but it’s one piece of a very large puzzle,” says Percy. “The clause has to be structured so everyone can protect their interests. We’re not anticipating a problem — the main goal is to get the project up and running.”
The environmental assessment will consider issues like noise pollution from a light rail system running along the eight kilometre CP Rail line.
“The agencies that are responsible for noise would outline that there’s a problem and would determine if it wasn’t acceptable,” says Tim Sharp, a senior planner for the ministry’s environmental assessment branch in Toronto. Conflicts have to be resolved in a satisfactory manner before the environment minister will approve the assessment.
Light rail cannot proceed without the ministerial go-ahead.
Centretown residents close to the rail line seem ambivalent about a train that could run past their homes every 15 minutes during rush-hour periods. It would take about 11 minutes for the train to travel its route.
“Well, I imagine the noise is gonna bother people — they should get the magnetic (train),” laughs John Frigo, a business owner on Larch Street. He’s referring to expensive speed trains in Japan and Germany that use magnetic fields as a power source.
According to Tunnacliffe, the region will order diesel-powered carriages – called Diesel Multiple Units. The trains will have similar noise levels to an average bus. Model specifications have yet to be determined and will be one of the main topics of negotiation with CP Rail.
“It can’t be any worse than the Queensway,” says Diane Valente, whose house on Loretta Avenue North is nestled between Hwy. 417 and the proposed location of a light rail station on Gladstone Avenue.